Volume VI, Issue 9
Author: Lopa Mukherjee
Continued from Part 1
A great being cast his net over Kavi and trapped him like a fish. The net began to shrink. It was now ropes around his body, a noose strangling his neck. He couldn’t move, his legs were bound together, as by a python. His hands were pasted by his side. Only his mind was free. He forced himself to imagine he was floating in outer space.
He looked down upon the earth. It was a ball swathed in white clouds, just like a pearl. He looked closely and saw other smaller pearls reflected on the earth. These were the stars, the moon, the sun. He looked at the moon. She was another pearl in the sky. And she reflected the earth, the sun, the stars. He looked around and found pearls and more pearls, reflecting each other infinitely. The great being spoke softly in his ear, “This is my net, called the indrajāl. I am Indra, lord of swarga. They call me Sahasrāksha, for I have innumerable eyes, and each eye in the indrajāl reflects all other eyes.”
All the jewels in this fisherman’s net started sparkling. Kavi looked down at his body, immobilised by many nets. Indra said, “Mortals are proud of their nets, and don’t realise they are pashas, fetters. That is why earthly creatures are called paśus. When the mind is trapped, covered with ignorance, bound by orthodoxy, I suffer too, for I am lord of the illumined mind.”
“Where can we find Dadhichi?” asked Kavi.
“You are it, tat tvam eva, tvam eva tat,” replied Indra.
Kavi asked incredulously, “You mean, you want to use my bones to solve the problem of humanity?”
“No,” replied the calm voice, “We do not need that sort of weapon this time around. Choose whatever you wish from my wealth of vasus, who are my attendants, for I am Vāsav, master of the vasus. Free yourself and deliver me. The vasus are the five primordial elements of creation; and the sun, moon and stars.”
Kavi wondered if the Sun could help him. But his puissance was uncontrollable. The stars were too far. The moon, wind, water, space, earth could not help, but fire, yes fire could be used, and it would not burn him to ashes if handled skilfully. “Consume my fetters, O Agni,” prayed Kavi.
A blue flame danced before his face, “I can’t, I have no spark. Only Vajrapāni can kindle me.”
Kavi was surprised. “Vajrapāni, the holder of the lightning is Indra. Is he testing me, or are you not the right helper? Perhaps the thunder can break my knots with its mighty cry, and the rains dissolve them?”
Kavi addressed Indra, “O Lord, release your rains and cleanse us, for you are also Meghnāth, master of the clouds.”
Indra replied, “My thunder will speak only when the lightning commands it. And my lightning needs the spark. Yes, even my mighty vajrāyudha, stronger than metal, stone or wood, as strong as diamond, that killed Vritra in yester years, needs a spark.”
“Which god shall I worship then?
कस्मै देवाय हविषा विधेम (kasmai devāya haviṣā vidhema)?” asked Kavi.
“Only man, the wielder of the mind, has that spark. Lend me a spark and I will kindle my lightning from it.”
“Me?” faltered Kavi, “Have I the kindling power to ignite your lightning?”
“Yes, the supreme has planted his spark in man. Even the gods must ask man for it.”
“Are you asking me to hand over my divine spark to you, my soul, as Dadhichi had done? I shall not exist after the deed is done.”
“You shall for your spark can birth other sparks. Remember the secret formula of creating fire?”
***
Kavi started falling, and he knew he was waking up. He forced himself to remain in dream space. From outer space he approached the earth and reached the summit of a mountain. He saw a rishi in the lotus seat. The rishi looked at Kavi and said, “Araṇi”. Then he brought his palms together, pointed them towards Kavi and started rubbing one palm against another. Kavi fell some more and saw other rishis in other nooks of the mountain. They were all looking at him, rubbing their palms in the same fashion and said “Araṇi.”
Kavi woke up and ran to the kitchen, “Amma, who is rishi Araṇi?” He saw her light the gas with a lighter. He grabbed it. It had sparked. She said, “It’s two pieces of metal rubbing against each other. Our ancestors created fire by striking two stones together. But you came to ask about rishi Araṇi. I don’t know about him, but there is an araṇi tree. Interestingly, it was also used to create fire.”
“How?” asked Kavi excitedly.
“You make a flat base of the wood, then you make a pencil with another piece. And rub the pencil on the wood to create friction.” She made the same gesture of rubbing her hands together.
“You have solved the riddle!” Kavi cried, delighted. He told her his dream. But she responded with a frown, “Vritra can’t be killed with wood, metal or stone. You have to find another way to make the spark.”
Kavi ruminated all day on the riddle. He finally circulated back to the possibility of a person named Araṇi. He sought out the Sanskrit teacher who knew a lot of puranic stories. The teacher drew a blank too, but did not give up. He brought out his dictionary of references. Under ‘araṇi’ there was a shloka from Kaivalya Upanishad. It said:
Use your self as the base wood, and the mantra as the churning stick.
आत्मानमरणिं कृत्वा प्रणवं चोत्तरारणिम् ।
ātmānam araṇim kritwā pranavam chottarāraṇim.
The friction is the heat of tapas, which is the practice of higher knowledge. It burns the pashas, transforming our animal nature into the divine.
ज्ञाननिर्मथनाभ्यासात्पाशं दहति पण्डितः ॥
jnāna nirmathanābhyasāt pāśam dahati panditah.
Kavi thought aloud, “So that is the solution to free the world of the encroaching nets – to kindle the spiritual fire within. A single spark can set alight an entire forest. I am a node in the indrajāl, one eye that can kindle a spark in other eyes. We are each a spark-ling unit in Indra’s cosmic net.”
***
Notes
Indra is one of the gods most mentioned in the Vedas. The story of Dadhichi’s sacrifice is a puranic addition to the Vedic rishis’ experience of the battle between Vritra and Indra. Vritra is described variously as the hurricane that blocks the sun, a gigantic snake, and a demon, a dānav. The Vedas describe related stories where Indra saves the solar cows from the Valas and the Panis, the evil forces that steal the rays of light, represented by cows.
अरणि (araṇi) is a piece of wood used for kindling fire by turning it, or doing manthanam, against a flat piece of wood. The lower wood is called adharāraṇi and the upper is the uttarāraṇi. The botanical name of the araṇi tree is Ficus Religiosa. Another araṇi tree is Premna Spinosa.
Kaivalya Upanishad is one of the 13 major Upanishads. Its 11th shloka in the first section is:
Using the soul as one kindling stick and the mantra as the other;
From the friction of practicing the true knowledge the wise man is able to burn his fetters.
आत्मानमरणिं कृत्वा प्रणवं चोत्तरारणिम्।
ज्ञाननिर्मथनाभ्यासात्पापं दहति पण्डितः ॥
ātmānam araṇim kritwā pranavam chottarāraṇim
jnāna nirmathanābhyasāt pāśam dahati panditah
Paśu means animal in common language, but etymologically any creature that is bound.
तत्त्वमेव त्वमेव तत् (tatvameva tvameva tat) is in the Kaivalya Upanishad (1.16). Another variation of it is the mahāvākya: Tat tvam asi, “You are That” from the Chhandogya Upanishad (6.8.7). Here That is the indescribable, and therefore left as That, with a capital T. Incidentally, tat and that have the same etymological root.
कस्मै देवाय हविषा विधेम (kasmai devāya haviṣā vidhema) means “To which god should I offer my oblations?” This passage is repeated as a refrain in the Hiranyagarbha suktam in the Ṛgveda. 10.121. It talks of the birth of the creation from a golden womb.
Read PART 1
~ Design: Beloo Mehra
